


Bending is unfair

by Rona23



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Airbender Pidge, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Avatar Allura (Voltron), Bending (Avatar), Earthbender Hunk (Voltron), Firebender Keith (Voltron), Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Nonbender Lance, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Waterbender Lance (Voltron), nonbender Shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 08:13:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19103206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rona23/pseuds/Rona23
Summary: Lance is a nonbender. That is all he ever was. Even though he is the only one in the family. More reason for him to learn how to fight right?When he gets to school and is allowed to face Keith, the bending prodigy of their generation, without using bending, of course he is determined to win against the well trained fire bender.However, as classed become more advanced, Lance suddenly faces his problem with his a disadvantage. More so than his lack in ability, it is his jealousy that gets the better of him.An injury may change his perspective.





	Bending is unfair

**Author's Note:**

> I´m so sorry, I got weirdly lazy at the end. Then again, I was afraid to accidentally get to a count of 50 pages again and stuck somewhere between two plot points or whatever. So I decided this was enough. It´s just a one shot anyway :) It was fun and I liked the idea, that´s all that matters.  
> Though I have to admit, nonbenders look really weak in this story. Then again, they do have a huge disadvantage.

Bending.  
It´s an ability, many people possess, as it is a trait given from your ancestors to you.  
At least, that is what Lance´s parents had always taught him.  
And Lance had always been proud of his heritage. His mother was an air bender. His father bent fire. And everyone had always told him, he would be a great bender one day. His charisma, his impulsiveness made many believe he would be a fire bender.  
And Lance trained. He trained every day. Ever since he was a child. He tried air bending, too. Learned all the steps, all the spiritual, all the physical arts you could achieve. And he trained more than any other person his age.

And yet, it never seemed enough.

Lance was seventeen years old. Which meant, he was old enough to attend the final school. People who would explore the world, defend the common folks from fire´s or criminals were to be found here.  
It was always Lance´s dream to become a police officer. It would be hard for him as a non-bender, as earth benders nominated the subject. But that didn´t stop him, of course.

Furthermore, anyone could be whatever they wanted. That is why Takashi Shirogane, a non-bender, was currently the chief of the department. His abilities were doubted, sure, but he proved to be more than capable of the job.  
His right hand, or rather co-leader was no other than the Avatar: Allura of Altea. And yes, in rank they were the same.

This is why it was Lance´s biggest dream to impress both of them.  
But Lance knew it wouldn´t be easy. He had never been the top of his class.  
Also, he had to teach himself most of the time, since his parents had never attended a career specialized on their abilities.  
So Lance had made sure to learn the other two elements in theory as well. If he couldn´t be a bender, he could at least use their forms and techniques. 

After all, that was what Shiro had preached when he became the captain of this facility.  
Sometimes Lance wondered if he would ever be like that. 

Or if his parents were actually pitying him for his lack of ability? Was he even part of the family? How high were the chances that someone with parents and a histoy of bending in the family as his, would be born without any element at all?  
But when he looked at the way his own blue eyes shined as bright as his mothers, his face was as dark and his skin as clean as his fathers and his appearance and style similar to his sibling´s, he knew he was part of the family. And they tried to reassure him every day that they didn´t think less of him because of it.

The school ground was huge. Every element had its corner. Not to discriminate, but to create a field for each bender to train in.  
The place of the non-benders and those who didn´t intend to train at the very moment was centered right in the middle of the school ground.  
Some people preferred places other than half frozen seas, fire throwing vulcanos, grand canyon terrain or cliffs with tornadoes in seemingly endless depths of the abyss.

Right here, the first years gathered. And with a happy shout and wild gestures, Lance ran towards his best friend, the giant earth and metal bender Hunk Garret. He wore a bandana on his forehead, but it couldn´t hide his dark brown bangs that fell into his bright happy face.  
Next to him sat a small person with crazy hair, glasses, and clothes that belonged clearly to the air nomads.  
Not much different from Lance´s clothes, which were a bit wider and more casual. More in the sense of the freedom of fire benders.

Hunk greeted his best friend in a tight hug and covered him in warmth and cuddles.  
“Hey, buddy. Great to see you too.”, Lance laughed, trying to push his friend away to introduce himself to the gremlin.

“Hey, yo. I´m Lance. You´re an air bender?”, he asked, reaching for them with his hand.  
They looked up at him and jumped to their feet immediately. A wave of air smoothing their movement.

“Yeah. I´m Pidge, they/them. But I guess that was obvious already. I guess, so are you?”

Lance shook their hand excitedly. “No, not exactly. I´m from the northern air nomads, but I´m a non-bender.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Really now?”, but they didn´t ask any further.  
After all, many families were of mixed descendants by now. The war between the nations was long over, but many refugees had gathered across the countries and nobody knew for certain which element they would inherit. Or at all. Things like these were not as uncommon as one may believe.

“I´m taking it, Shiro is your idol?”, they asked, grinning a bit. Obviously doubting Lance´s abilities. But he was used to that.  
“You called it.”

“I heard, this year his younger brother is attending this school as well. He´s a fire bender though. A pretty powerful one, if you´d believe the rumors. He´s this year's favorite topic.”

“HA! Not for long, if I have a say in it!”

Pidge eyed his fierce stand suspiciously. “Well, I wouldn´t be so certain of yourself. After all I´ve heard, Shiro has trained him personally for those past years.”

Lance pouted at the information, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. “So? Doesn´t mean he´d be better than me. I´ll have you know, I´ve been training for my entire life, too. I can easily -”

“Don´t forget, he´s got an advantage. Fire!”, Pidge rolled their eyes, but with a smile at Lance´s huff.  
“You seem funny, I bet, we´ll get along somehow.”, they grinned, shaking Lance´s hand in the process.  
Lance huffed once more but smiled none the less, while Hunk gloated at both of them, beginning his rant how they would become the bestest of friends in no time.

\-----------------------

The first time Lance met Keith, was in class. The students were divided in different categories. Of course, those categories were defined by their bending abilities, parting them in five different groups.  
One bending group would always get solo training, while of the remaining groups would be sorted each two together.  
This was to teach them the ways of another element and bond the different souls of the students together.  
Didn´t mean it was a perfect system, but apparently, it had worked so far.

The fourth week of school, Lance, the non-benders and the fire benders were sorted in one group session for the first time. Takashi Shirogane, the class teacher of the non-benders was watching over them and declaring, their first official task would be to fight one on one.  
Neither of them was supposed to use their bending techniques. For one, because the non-benders would have a huge disadvantage that at this stage of their training, none of them could surpass, secondly, to show the fire benders that they needed more than talent. They needed technique and finesse to win matches.

As destiny would have it, Lance was paired up with Keith. Lance´s first instinct was to hold his breath at the emo looking boy in casual clothes. Black and red covered his appearance. His purple eyes piercing through Lance´s soul in determination.  
Lance had expected Keith to look down on him. But it seemed, the man was taking him seriously, right from the get-go.  
And that, for Lance, was a first. Keith seemed to know techniques, he radiated knowledge and power, so Lance lowered his stance. Anticipating and scanning his opponent. 

Lance knew all the techniques of benders and non-benders by heart. At least in theory. The air and fire benders, however, he had mastered in practice. Despite his lack of bending quality.  
And he was certain that Keith had mastered Kung Fu as well.

That is why he didn´t expect him to move in soft circles, like Lance himself. Adapting to his air bending knowledge. But Lance could see the fire in the other man´s eyes.

A moment later the fire bender attacked. Lance balanced his stance again, creating the biggest and strongest defense, Hunk had personally trained him in to catch Keith´s fist.  
They didn´t talk or shout, like their other classmates who were throwing rocks at each other.  
No, they were calculating each other´s movements and using everything they´ve learned against each other.

It was a back and forth, almost a dance, as they didn´t seriously attack, but tested each other's abilities.  
Lance felt the eyes of Shiro on him and he knew that his stances were off. He could tell by the way his opponent shifted, stared and smiled, that Lance lacked experience in a fight.  
Keith didn´t. In fact, Lance felt the man attack more and more fierce, while he himself crumbled under the pressure.

And then, Keith´s punch surprised Lance, as he ducked under the movement that was aimed for his head. In reflex, Lance shifted his weight from one foot to the other, directing the energy back at Keith.  
Keith? He fell. Or rather almost fell, as he jumped back on his hands to his feet. And suddenly, the smile he wore widened.  
It irritated Lance, but he didn´t have time to think about it, as Keith attacked again and threw him to the ground in one swift motion.  
Lance exhaled a deep breath as his back hit the rough ground. 

His vision was blurry, as he grabbed Keith´s hand, who helped him up in excitement.

“Wow, man. That was awesome. I haven´t had such a good opponent in weeks, what´s your name?”, he asked as Lance pushed the dust off himself.

“Uhm, the name´s Lance. You know, best non-bender of our class.”

“Really? Cool, erm. My name´s Keith. Firebender.”, Keith scratched his head with his free arm. Only now Lance realized he was still holding the stranger by the hand.  
In a weird reflex, he pulled it back. 

Thrown off by the action, Keith opened his mouth to say something, but he seemed transfixed by something in or behind Lance´s eyes as he stayed silent.

“Yeah, everyone knows that.”, Lance murmured, unable to rip his gaze from those eyes.

“Heck, yeah. I was personally trained by the best this school has to offer, so I´ve got some kind of advantage. So, I was wondering, who the hell trained you? That was pretty good. Better than anything I´ve seen so far.”, his compliment was startingly open. Completely different to his first, closed off appearance. Maybe he liked the challenge? Or was anyone judging him wrongly on his abilities?

“I – erm, I trained myself. I think I was supposed to be a fire bender such as yourself. My genes somehow didn´t agree.”, Lance shrugged, slightly embarrassed.  
But the grin found it´s way back on his face anyway. “Which is why I know, I´ll surpass you sooner or later, Mullet.”, he winked. 

Keith blinked back at him, mouth wide open for a comeback, but Shiro already called them in, explaining to each and every one precisely what they lacked so far.  
He smiled at Lance, as he told him how great he´s been handling his opponent. Until pointing out his obvious mistakes. 

Lance nodded in defeat, waiting for Shiro to do the same to Keith. Which he did in great detail, while Keith just rolled his eyes at Lance.

\-----------------------

Month´s passed and somehow, Lance was paired up with Keith quite often. Each time the non- and fire benders were sorted together, Shiro made sure to use Keith and Lance as an example.  
But never once Lance managed to win against Keith. He landed a few lucky punches then and again, which was far more than what most of his classmates managed to do, though they got better, too.  
Frustration grew inside Lance that he was yet unfamiliar with. He trained off schedule, as well, as his classmates went home tired.

Only once, only once did he want to win a fight against Keith.  
It got to the point of obsession when all he could see was that dumb mullet, those dumb gloves, his stupid smile and the purple of his eyes.  
While he was boxing against a tree, of course (cough).

But Lance did get better. And finally, when he was so determined one day that he was convinced he could hit more than just one blow against Keith, Shiro declared that it was time for the benders to use their abilities against the non-benders.  
Their abilities, trained against all the other elements, Lance just knew he had no chance.  
He barely had a chance as a non-bender. How was he supposed to fight Keith?

When he faced his other classmates. Such as James (Firebender), Kinkade (Earth), Romelle (Water), and many others, he actually had a chance. He won most of their battles because that is what he was trained for. He had managed the art of disabling his opponent from their elements, as Shiro had suggested him month´s ago.  
But Keith? He couldn´t even reach him. He had trouble with Pidge sometimes because they were smarter than him, but Keith was a whole different caliber.  
Connected to the fact that Keith was a fire bender, the element that he wasn´t even able to touch, just screamed impossible.

Didn´t mean, he wasn´t ready to try.

When Keith attacked him this time, Lance put all his doubts aside and focused on his ability to avoid his hits.  
The flames that broke from Keith´s hands were growling with passion, illuminating their entire fight, while Keith´s teeth and eyes reflected their glowing.

Lance gritted his teeth, as he tried to avoid the heat.  
The protective clothes, him and the other non-benders had gotten from Shiro, did little to cool the heat from Keith´s fists.  
For the first time in his life, Lance felt completely helpless.  
And it showed in his performance and the lack of Keith´s usual smile.

He didn´t enjoy the fight. And Lance could tell, the non-benders didn´t either. The disadvantage was huge and painful to their very souls.

“Heck, Lance, what is wrong with you? I know I am allowed to use fire-bending today, but you´re never this bad.”

“Well, maybe it throws me off, that every attack or defense I make will result in me burning to a crisp!”, Lance shouted back, as the last hit burned right through his clothes. Leaving a burning piercing sensation in his shoulder as Lance screamed in pain.  
Suddenly feeling so very, very weak. 

Keith stopped immediately, as he bit his bottom lip. Lance stood up, as shocked and worried glances were directed at him now. The fire benders stopped as soon as they saw the fresh wound.  
Shiro hurried over to Lance, examining the wound.  
“Keith, come over here. Get him to a healer. Now!”, he demanded, his voice calm as he didn´t even look at his brother.

“It will be fine, Lance, The healers have healed far worse than this before. Things like these happen a lot here. Don´t let it get you down.”

Lance nodded with a whimper, as he stood up in pain and went his way towards the water side of the school ground.  
Keith hesitated, as he joined by his side, unable to say anything.

“I´m sorry”, he finally whispered, as they were outside earshot from their fellow classmates.  
“It´s fine.”, Lance murmured. Feeling even weaker now.  
“Just, you were fighting so much better these past few weeks, what happened? Is something wrong?”, he asked, making Lance laugh.

“I already told you. With you bending, I´m at a huge disadvantage. Even if I tried to take your bending from you, you´re practically covered in flames.  
We´re not allowed to use tools, such as needles, which I would need to block your bending from afar, so all I can do is run. Or I´ll get burned anyway. Also, do you know how hot you – r – heck, your flames are?  
I´d get burned just walking next to you!”, Lance hissed at his wound.

Barely noticing the blush on Keith´s face. “Sorry, I – tend to misjudge my flames. I was told they were a lot – erm – as you said, hotter than those of most other people.  
Which is a surprise, really. Since my parents were both earth benders, I mean – huh. Who would have thought am I right?”, Keith scratched his neck again.

Lance huffed. “Yeah. Right, That´s not possible.”, he hissed back at Keith, trying to ignore the confused stares from his rival.

“Why not? Who knows how many generations ago there may have been a fire bender in my family? Why would it be impossible?”

Lance didn´t answer. “How´s your wound?”  
“Peachy. “, Lance replied. Keith tried to smile at that.  
“You know, you are a pretty good fighter, Lance. And I know in a real fight, where you´d be able to use all the tools you want, you could-”  
“Actually have a chance against you? Yeah. Thank´s. I´d like to win without cheating.”, Lance blinked as the water temple got closer. It looked empty from afar.

Keith bit his lip once more.  
“Look, I know you´re mad at me. But it´s not my fault I was born with the ability and you were-”

“Not?”, Lance pointed his finger at him now, as Keith gulped as he realized his mistake.

“Listen, Keith. You want to make this about jealousy? Alright. I know it has never been your choice to be a fire bender, but congratulations, you are.  
My father is a fire bender, my mother is an air bender. There are two different bending types in my family. And I´ve studied everything about them. Tried everything and asked everyone if they knew how to become a bender.  
I´ve done everything I could and I was expecting, no, I was certain I would be a fire bender. But turns out I am a good-for-nothing after all. Do you know how many siblings I have? Do you know how many of them are non-benders like me? Right. None.  
I am the disappointment of my family. So yeah, not only am I frightened of your abilities, I am fucking jealous. And I know you´ve trained hard to get where you are now, but it´s just not fair. You had Shiro, my personal hero, at your side your whole life. Is it that hard to understand how I feel?”, Lance pointed.

He turned away, ignoring how Keith had stopped a few feet behind him. “Erm, Lance?”, he asked, startled as his eyes were fixed onto a point somewhere behind Lance now. 

“What?”, Lance asked again.  
Only now he heard the cracking behind him. It was a rumbling sound, hurting their ears as well as their minds as the shock wave made them stumble to the ground.  
A wave, as tall as a mountain erupted from the sea that surrounded the tend of the healers. “Lance, hurry!”, Keith shouted, jumping back to his feet and dragging Lance with him to the tend. 

“It´s empty, fuck. Maybe they are with the other water benders? Oh no, the water benders are on solo training today, right? God, they must be making that wave. Hurry! We need to get out of here!”, Keith shouted, their previous fight wiped off his mind. 

Lance as well could only stare at the giant wave in front of him now. Other than Keith however, he felt unable to move.  
Something about this wave seemed awfully familiar.

The rumbling sound radiated somewhere within him, telling him something in a language he didn´t quite understand.

“Lance, hurry, we don´t have time.”

But Lance didn´t move. And as Keith realized that, he tried dragging Lance with him somewhere out of the danger zone.  
It was too late. With a crashing sound, the wave collapsed on top of them, burying them in the depths of its cold embrace.  
Keith almost immediately choked on the water, but couldn´t move enough to reach the surface.

But he could see a glowing sensation right in front of him.  
For a second, he thought it was a mermaid, as he realized it was the wound on Lance´s shoulder, healing.  
Keith turned around with his waving arms, trying to make out who did it until Lance turned around to him. Eyes wide, mouth dangerously wide open. 

He mouthed something at him, but Keith couldn´t understand as his senses slowly died out.  
As Lance noticed, he rushed over to him, in a swirling motion. The water moving to his will, as though it always had.

And Lance? Lance could feel it. He could feel the water tugging at him, playing with him, as it told him where up was.  
And water, he realized was the opposite of fire. And yet so similar. It was an element of passion, but also calmness and life.  
Lance could feel the flow, the temperature, the very essence of this element. As he realized that it was this, what the empty in his chest has been longing for.

Dragging Keith to the surface was easier than he had imagined, as the water bent away from him, making way for them to reach air in time.  
Keith coughed up the water that Lance carefully removed from his lungs.  
The ice he put him on was harsh and broken and Lance feared it would hurt Keith, who looked a lot paler than before.

Wherever they had washed ashore, faces were turned to them in fear in shock.  
Lance recognized the blue fabric as that of the water bending class, as well as the healers. 

Allura, the white-haired Avatar stood up immediately as she saw them approaching. She was in charge of solo training. But the way it looked, the water benders were currently trained in healing abilities, hence, the healers were close to them.

“How – did you?”, she started and Lance gulped.

“That giant wave – that wasn´t you, was it?”, she whispered, for all of them to hear.

“I- I don´t know – I mean- I”, Lance started, as Keith slowly regained his senses.

“What is that on your back?”, Allura continued, slowly coming closer to the two of them.  
“I- my wound. Keith burned me – he.”

“It´s a scar.”, Allura said and stopped as she walked closer to the two drenched men. 

“Let me take a look at this.”, she said again, putting one hand on Lance´s head, as light illuminated from the touch.  
A second later, she pulled away in wonder and excitement.  
A judging look on his grey clothes that marked him as a non-bender, until she broke into a smile.

“It seems, you have misjudged yourself, Mr. McClain?”, Lance stared back at her in confusion.

“You did that wave just now. And I must say, that is an advanced technique. Not many water benders manage to do that.”

His eyes widened as he stared back at Keith, who was exchanging glances with both him and Allura.

“But I´m not -”

“You are. Stand up.”, she demanded and Lance followed.  
“No, listen, Allura. I- whatever that was, it was not me. I couldn´t – look!”, he turned around, trying to remember one of the drawings he had found in a water bending description somewhere in the library. And closed his eyes as he tried to mimic the stances he saw.  
He moved his arms up in a fluid motion, trying to imagine how the water pushed back and forth, again and again.

“See I -”, but as he opened his eyes, a wave, almost as tall as a dog washed ashore, drenching Keith in water once again.  
Immediately Lance lowered his arms and the wave disappeared.

Allura smiled at him once more, as Lance tried to process what was going on.

“I suppose you will be transferred from the non-bending class, after all.  
Welcome to water bending.”


End file.
